Do You Remember ? (Camren)

Chapter 13

"Mrs. Cabello, I feel sort of weird being here. You know what I mean…" Lauren sat stiffly on the couch in her living room where she and Camila had spent a lot of time together. They used to watch movies, well were going to watch the movies but ended up just making out and not paying any attention.

"Sweetie, Camila is with her sister at the park, she won't even know that you were here, now relax. What do you want to talk about?" Lauren was playing with the hem of her black button-up shirt and avoiding eye contact with her lover's mom. Something just didn't feel right about being in her house without her knowing.

Lauren wanted to know everything that was going on. She wanted to know what time Camila went to bed, if she was dreaming, what the dreams were about, if she had said anything about her, what was she wearing, was she still using her strawberry shampoo, etc. all of these questions have been floating around in her head constantly since she had not been with her every day after what happened in LA.

"How is she?" Lauren asked in an almost inaudible whisper. She lifted her chin a little and quickly glanced into Sinuhe's eyes. This was hard for her to sit here like this and talk to someone who got to see her everyday, and just spend time with her. It didn't seem fair to her that Sinuhe got that privilege but she didn't.

"She's doing good Lauren. She really is. Well, as good as someone could be doing if they were just in a car accident and lost their memory." Sinuhe smiled a little and took a sip from her iced tea that she was drinking.

She was trying to make the situation lighter than it really was, but Lauren was buying none of it. She felt her heart twinge at the thought that the only reason she lost her memory was because of her.She was struggling and couldn't accept the fact that there was nothing that she could have done that would have changed what happened.

"I guess that's good." Lauren  sighed and looked up again. "Is she… happy? I mean, does she smile at the little things and laugh when nothing funny happened like she used to do?" Lauren was breaking just remembering that this was basically her fault. Sinuhe reached out to Lauren’s hands and grabbed her hand in hers firmly causing her to look up once again. But this time there were tears in her eyes.

"Sweetie, there is nothing you can do about it. This was not your fault. Stop blaming yourself for this. It hurts me that you are hurting so much." Lauren shook her head and tried to push those thoughts to the back of her mind but they just kept fighting back to the front. This was her fault and nothing that she said could change her mind.

"So, we went to see the doctor the other day." Lauren closed her eyes slowly and kept them that way for a minute. What she said here could either be good or bad, there was no in between.

"What did he say?" Lauren wasn't one hundred percent sure that she wanted to know the answer to this question. There was a good side and a bad side. She could tell that her memory seems to be getting better and a full recovery in expected, or she could tell her that there is no sign of progress and recovery is very slim. But deep down, Lauren wanted to know everything that was going on since she could not be physically with her right now.

"Lauren you have to understand that what they are doing right now is a guessing game. There is no sure way to see how recovery is going. The brain works in ways that even a computer cannot and trying to understand is like trying to locate a needle in a haystack." Lauren was becoming nervous and a little scared at the same time.

She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, then placed her head in her hands. She could almost feel the bile rising in her throat at the sound of Camila’s mom words. Was she prepping Lauren for disappointment, or trying not to let her get her hopes up?

"Mrs. Cabello, that really doesn't answer my question." Lauren lifted her head and looked at her in the eyes pleading with her without words to tell her what was going on. Camila’s mom took a deep breath and laid her hands neatly in her lap. Lauren's nerves were growing with every second that was passing by.

"Well, they really haven't seen any changes… and recommended that she does some therapy sessions." She stated calmly, awaiting the outburst that Lauren was going to have. She was just about as nervous as she was telling her this because she knew that it would break her heart. She continued quickly after that, "…but they also said that it could be one thing that could bring it back." Lauren furrowed her eyebrow and looked at her.

"What does that mean?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Camila’s mom thought about the question for a few seconds before answering, "Well, it could be a familiar smell, or sight, or taste that could bring it back. They said something about one familiar connection could bring the rest of the memories flooding back." Lauren smiled a little. All she had to do now was to find what familiar thing would bring her baby back to her.

"The doctor told us to surround her with things that we used to make all the time, what her favorite scents were, and what used to be her favorite toys." Lauren nodded slowly and had an idea.

"Well, what if I take her back to Miami high and show her all the things that she used to do there?" she asked hopefully knowing that this would be an opportunity to spend time with her. There must be something at their old high school that would spark her memory.

"That's a great idea Lauren, but not by yourself. I don't think that she would agree if it was just you." Lauren practically heard her heart break in the quiet room at the sound of Camila’s mom words. "I think the only way that she would agree would be to go with all of her other friends too." That made sense to Lauren, but she wished that it wasn't true; she wanted to spend time with her alone.

"Okay. I'll call the rest of the gang and ask if this afternoon is good for them." Lauren said and stood up. Sinuhe joined her in the standing position and hugged her daughter-in-law-to-be. They let go and walked to the door.

"Let me know Lauren, text Sofi and tell her to tell me that everyone can go and then I will tell her." Lauren nodded and opened the door to walk towards her midnight Audi R8 and get into the drivers seat. She sighed and pulled out of the driveway and headed of towards Normani and Dinah's house.